Users within a Teams Group can be seen, but not searched

Question

I am an admin for my tenant, and have multiple users that are assigned as member to a Teams group that cannot be searched for within the group. I can search for them in the admin centers, and have verified that they are not hidden from the GAL, and that "Search by name" is scoped properly. The user has a license applied, and has both active and non-active logs from the last 2 days. The account is enabled. I noticed in the user logs, that the user did not get added properly when the group owner added the users to the group, but this has been corrected.

Despite all of this, these users cannot be searched for within the group.

I will state that this applies to select users within the group, and does not apply broadly to the members/owners of the group evenly.

Answer 1

Hi @Becca Reed,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand that you’re an admin managing a Teams group where several members are not appearing in the in‑group search, even though they’re correctly licensed, enabled, visible in the GAL, and showing activity logs.

Here are the steps I recommend:

1/ Test Teams on the web

Go to https://teams.cloud.microsoft/and sign in as an affected owner or member.

• If search works on the web but not in the desktop app, it’s very likely a local client cache issue.
• If search fails in both web and desktop, move on to the policy and visibility checks below.

2/ Clear or reset the Teams client cache, then re‑test

Windows (New Teams):

• Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Teams > Advanced options > Reset

or :

• If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon on the taskbar, and then select Quit.  
• Pressing Windows+R to open the Run dialog box.  
• In the Run dialog box, enter the following path, and then select OK. 

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams and restart Teams.

macOS (New Teams):

• If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon in the dock, and then select Quit or press Command+Q.  
• In the Finder, open the /Applications/Utilities folder, and then double-click Terminal.  
• Enter the following commands, and press Return after each command:  

rm -rf ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams 

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 

• Restart Teams.  

Reference: Clear the Teams client cache.

 

3/ Check for Information Barriers (IB) or Address Book Policies (ABP)

These can restrict who users can find in Teams people search. If your tenant has Scoped directory search enabled in the Teams Admin Center, search visibility will follow your IB/ABP configuration. Make sure both the searching user and the target user are permitted to see each other: Limit who users can see when searching the directory in Teams.

 

4/ Re‑add affected members directly from the Teams client

Because your logs showed the initial add didn’t complete correctly, remove and re‑add the user from within the Teams client itself (not only the M365 Group or Entra ID). Changes made outside the Teams UI may take longer to sync to the Team membership list.

 

If the problem continues:

Please open a support ticket through the Microsoft 365 admin center so Microsoft Support can review backend logs and assist further.

 

I hope this information helps. Please try the steps and let me know whether they resolve the issue. If the problem persists, we can work together to find a solution.  

As other users will also search for information in this community, your vote can significantly help those with similar inquiries quickly locate the most relevant resources. 

Thank you for your kindness and for contributing to the forum.   

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